Amazon announcement on return to office provides cautious optimism of higher demand
In Q3 2024, Amazon announced an updated return to office policy mandating 5 day per week starting in January 2025. As a result, there is now cautious optimism that other companies might follow suit, leading to higher demand for office space again. After the surge in leasing activity of 2.0 million square feet (msf) reported last quarter, office space demand dropped off to 1.3 msf in Q3 2024. This brought year to date 2024 total leasing activity in the Seattle/Puget Sound region to over 4.7 msf, up from 3.4 msf reported in the same period of 2023. In the first three quarters of 2024, total leasing activity has already surpassed the 4.6 msf reported in all of 2023 as new tech-focused requirements are now active around the market.